Connect With Us

“Project Censored shines a spotlight on news that an informed public must have . . . a vital contribution to our democratic process.”
—Rhoda H. Karpatkin, president, Consumer’s Union

“Project Censored interrogates the present in the same way that Oliver Stone and I tried to interrogate the past in our Untold History of the United States. It not only shines a penetrating light on the American Empire and all its deadly, destructive, and deceitful actions, it does so at a time when the Obama administration is mounting a fierce effort to silence truth-tellers and whistleblowers. Project Censored provides the kind of fearless and honest journalism we so desperately need in these dangerous times.”
—Peter Kuznick, professor of history, American University, and coauthor, with Oliver Stone, of The Untold History of the United States

“Most journalists in the United States believe the press here is free. That grand illusion only helps obscure the fact that, by and large, the US corporate press does not report what’s really going on, while tuning out, or laughing off, all those who try to do just that. Americans–now more than ever–need those outlets that do labor to report some truth. Project Censored is not just among the bravest, smartest, and most rigorous of those outlets, but the only one that’s wholly focused on those stories that the corporate press ignores, downplays, and/or distorts. This latest book is therefore a must read for anyone who cares about this country, its tottering economy, and–most important– what’s now left of its democracy.”
–Mark Crispin Miller, author, professor of media ecology, New York University.

“In another home run for Project Censored, Censored 2013 shows how the American public has been bamboozled, snookered, and dumbed down by the corporate media. It is chock-full of ‘ah-ha’ moments where we understand just how we’ve been fleeced by banksters, stripped of our civil liberties, and blindly led down a path of never-ending war.”
–Medea Benjamin, author of Drone Warfare, cofounder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK.

“Activist groups like Project Censored . . . are helping to build the media democracy movement. We have to challenge the powers that be and rebuild media from the bottom up.”
—Amy Goodman

“[Censored] should be affixed to the bulletin boards in every newsroom in America. And, perhaps read aloud to a few publishers and television executives.”
—Ralph Nader

“Censored 2014 is a clarion call for truth telling. Not only does this volume highlight fearless speech in fateful times, it connect the dots between the key issues we face, lauds our whistleblowers and amplifies their voices, and shines light in the dark places of our government that most need exposure.”
–Daniel Ellsberg, The Pentagon Papers

“The staff of Project Censored presents their annual compilation of the previous year’s 25 stories most overlooked by the mainstream media along with essays about censorship and its consequences. The stories include an 813% rise in hate and anti-government groups since 2008, human rights violations by the US Border Patrol, and Israeli doctors injecting Ethiopian immigrants with birth control without their consent. Other stories focus on the environment, like the effects of fracking and Monsantos GMO seeds. The writers point out misinformation and outright deception in the media, including CNN relegating factual accounts to the “opinion” section and the whitewashing of Margaret Thatcher’s career following her death in 2013, unlike Hugo Chavez, who was routinely disparaged in the coverage following his death. One essay deals with the proliferation of “Junk Food News,” in which “CNN and Fox News devoted more time to ‘Gangnam Style’ than the renewal of Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gays’ law.” Another explains common media manipulation tactics and outlines practices to becoming a more engaged, free-thinking news consumer or even citizen journalist. Rob Williams remarks on Hollywood’s “deep and abiding role as a popular propaganda provider” via Argo and Zero Dark Thirty. An expose on working conditions in Chinese Apple factories is brutal yet essential reading. This book is evident of Project Censored’s profoundly important work in educating readers on current events and the skills needed to be a critical thinker.”
-Publisher’s Weekly said about Censored 2014 (Oct.)

“Those who read and support Project Censored are in the know.”
—Cynthia McKinney

“At a time when the need for independent journalism and for media outlets unaffiliated with and untainted by the government and corporate sponsors is greater than ever, Project Censored has created a context for reporting the complete truths in all matters that matter. . . . It is therefore left to us to find sources for information we can trust. . . . It is in this task that we are fortunate to have an ally like Project Cen-sored.”
—Dahr Jamail

“Project Censored is one of the organizations that we should listen to, to be assured that our newspapers and our broadcasting outlets are practicing thorough and ethical journalism.”
—Walter Cronkite

“One of the most significant media research projects in the country.”
—I. F. Stone

“For ages, I’ve dreamed of a United States where Project Censored isn’t necessary, where these crucial stories and defining issues are on the front page of the New York Times, the cover of Time, and in heavy rotation on CNN. That world still doesn’t exist, but we always have Project Censored’s yearly book to pull together the most important things the corporate media ignored, missed, or botched.”
–Russ Kick, author of You Are Being Lied To, Everything You Know Is Wrong, and the New York Times bestselling series The Graphic Canon.

“Project Censored continues to be an invaluable resource in exposing and highlighting shocking stories that are routinely minimized or ignored by the corporate media. The vital nature of this work is underscored by this year’s NSA leaks. The world needs more brave whistle blowers and independent journalists in the service of reclaiming democracy and challenging the abuse of power. Project Censored stands out for its commitment to such work.”
—Deepa Kumar, author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire and associate professor of Media Studies and Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University

“Project Censored brings to light some of the most important stories of the year that you never saw or heard about. This is your chance to find out what got buried.”
–Diane Ravitch, author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System.

Desperate Times Demand Revolutionary Measures

May 14, 2012

By Peter Phillips

“Don’t waste any more time or energy on the presidential election than it takes to get to your polling station and pull a lever for a third-party candidate-—just enough to register your obstruction and defiance—and then get back out onto the street. That is where the question of real power is being decided.” Chris Hedges, May 2012

Runway capitalism is moving unrelentingly towards sociopolitical-environmental collapse—cheered on by a two-headed single party machine known as US Congress. Activists, who see the coming disasters as catastrophic, are seeking revolutionary change through non-cooperation, and occupy disruptions. Yet, many are the still delusional hopefuls desperately fumbling with traditional responses; including “Kum ba yah” marches, and the futile support for progressive left-leaning candidates seeking positions of influence inside the Washington beltway.

Do we understand that habeas corpus is no longer a legal protection in the US or that the US president can torture and kill American citizens, let along anyone in the world? How can we ignore the inconvenient truths of warrentless wire taps and electronic monitoring for everyone? Why do we tolerate that US-NATO forces killing people in over one hundred countries in the world using special service operatives, private assassins and drones—a million civilians deaths in Iraq alone? How can we be so blind as not to see our corporate media is a propaganda fog machine for the one percent? These questions, reflecting the reality of America today, are so far from the values of our traditions that accepting any aspect of authority from Washington DC is a sacrilege to our honor. We are in desperate times.

In Congress, wealth begets membership, and wealth is the reward for correct action. The members in the House and Senate have a collective net worth of $2.04 billion, up from $1.65 billion, in 2008. While at the same time, Americans’ household net worth has continued to declined and the number of people living in poverty has risen for the fifth year in a row.

The American Congress is in reality an artificial organization serving as cheerleader to the transnational corporate class of the world. Congress offers its members little more than a transitional path into the good life of corporate affluence as long as the members remain loyal to party discipline. Our legitimate electoral process has been completely usurped by the Supreme Court ruling that a corporation’s free speech rights allow unlimited campaign spending, and congressional lobbying knows no bounds. Any candidate willing to serve in the Democrat or Republican parties in the US congress today, even as a gadfly of resistance, is stepping beyond the pale of constitutional government.

Even if a Progressive Democrat of America—Moves On into the congressional circle, the magnitude of compromise demanded makes effective action impossible other than occasional symbolic votes of resistance. Those stepping out of party lines will invariably result in orchestrated opposition during the next selection cycle—Just ask Cynthia McKinney.

Reform is not an option. The only action possible is a complete and total return to the social justice values of our US Constitution and the Bill of rights. We cannot allow extrajudicial killings, privacy invasions into our homes, and police state interceptions in the commons. We cannot allow global capitalism to continue to kill and impoverish billions of people and destroy the planet

Protecting and even rewriting our Constitution and our Bill of Rights will require revolutionary acts. We must retool our elections and eliminate/ignore the dark clouds of corporate media. A mass movement at this level requires grass roots action by a core of at least ten percent of our population. Getting one out of ten people actively involved is not at all impossible; this is where our traditional values meet human rights. We are a people of hope that only need to overcome our fears and find the voice of our values by using radical democracy for human betterment for all.

The right to vote is a long held value. We are often asked, “Why waste your vote on an independent third party candidate, they will never have a chance to win.” Can voting for a candidate who reflects your own political values and beliefs be a wasted vote? It seems that voting for your true beliefs is a self-actualizing act, and compromising one’s values to pick the lesser of two evils is self-alienating. Therefore, we urge all to continue to vote, but find candidates outside of the two party oligopoly. Maybe someday, self-actualized voting will be fashionable.

Peter Phillips is a professor of political sociology and social movements at Sonoma State University. He is the president of Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored, and co-host with Mickey Huff of the weekly Project Censored Show on KPFA.

A vote for a third party candidate is simply a passive aggressive way to vote for Romney, just like voting for Nader in 2000 was a vote for Bush. If that’s who you support, just be intellectually honest and vote Republican and stop trying to wrap yourself in some false cloak of “purity”. As for re-writing the Constitution, just who do you think would be in charge of that? You? The people? Not a chance! The ONLY hope we have is to get as many progressive Democrats elected to every level of office as possible and give them our support once they are elected.

George — Actually, vote for a third party candidate is THE most powerful message you can send to the corporate-owned parties. Meekly doing as told — once again — only tells them you are owned.

Drone murders, eliminating our right to a trial, removing Single Payer, bailing out Wall St.

You literally are voting FOR these things when you vote for Obama.

Obama is far worse than Clinton.
Clinton was far worse than Carter.
Guess what, the pattern is clear.

And believe me, “progressive” Dems will never remove money from politics, and so, will continue to have to raise $billions, and so, will only go more and more to the right to sidle up to the billionaires.

It’s a no-brainer.

Many Dems are already abandoning ship. You might think about it yourself. Take a look at Jill Stein. She’s the only adult in the room.

A vote for a third party candidate is simply a passive aggressive way to vote for Romney, just like voting for Nader in 2000 was a vote for Bush. If that’s who you support, just be intellectually honest and vote Republican and stop trying to wrap yourself in some false cloak of “purity”. As for re-writing the Constitution, just who do you think would be in charge of that? You? The people? Not a chance! The ONLY hope we have is to get as many progressive Democrats elected to every level of office as possible and give them our support once they are elected.

George — Actually, vote for a third party candidate is THE most powerful message you can send to the corporate-owned parties. Meekly doing as told — once again — only tells them you are owned.

Drone murders, eliminating our right to a trial, removing Single Payer, bailing out Wall St.

You literally are voting FOR these things when you vote for Obama.

Obama is far worse than Clinton.
Clinton was far worse than Carter.
Guess what, the pattern is clear.

And believe me, “progressive” Dems will never remove money from politics, and so, will continue to have to raise $billions, and so, will only go more and more to the right to sidle up to the billionaires.

It’s a no-brainer.

Many Dems are already abandoning ship. You might think about it yourself. Take a look at Jill Stein. She’s the only adult in the room.

Really a vote for a third party candidate is the most powerful message you can send? Is that we saw all the change after Ross Perot got 20% of the vote in 1992? Or 1996? Or after Nader helped Bush get elected in 2000? The hyperbole of this piece is sad and disenfranchising. With little proof and much exaggeration the article spouts a lot of unwarranted claims. Let us not pretend the Obama and Romney are the same person, that is ridiculous. Let us also remember that this a democracy and that means not always getting your way. Many of the views advocated in this article are minority view points and that more than any is the reason they are not in acted.

Really a vote for a third party candidate is the most powerful message you can send? Is that we saw all the change after Ross Perot got 20% of the vote in 1992? Or 1996? Or after Nader helped Bush get elected in 2000? The hyperbole of this piece is sad and disenfranchising. With little proof and much exaggeration the article spouts a lot of unwarranted claims. Let us not pretend the Obama and Romney are the same person, that is ridiculous. Let us also remember that this a democracy and that means not always getting your way. Many of the views advocated in this article are minority view points and that more than any is the reason they are not in acted.

As time moves on. There is a boiling up like a festering sour within the world, a momentum. Humanity is on the cusp of a personal Iness change witch will eventually create oligopolistic governments. But not without some turmoil first.Controllers are not about to release this 2000 year dominance over the populous. The big problem at this moment in time, is that people are looking for external help to attain this personal Iness. This is the problem, any control group or any type of control government be it from the vary large right down to the small town counsel are operating on the lordship premise or going past this into becoming cabals united for their own gains by usurping pubic money by force; fraud; deception; coercion. The use of non sequiturs by media politicians; lawyers; professors; religions and any person wanting to felicitate a control gain by the use of unrealistic communication has become the norm in this upside down world civilization. How do we fix this humanistic state? This has to be an Iness or self consciousness of one, but achieved for all of humans around the world. How do I achieve this? How do we achieve this state of oneness? Albert Einstein. Stated. The only justifiable purpose of political institutions is to insure the unhindered development of the individual. Subjective political agenda laws are becoming the norm and the people are being forced by the demands of the elected cabals. The ones that should be prosecuted are the perpetrators and enforcers of these subjective laws. The constitution has to be contained back to the beginning then add to the original document. No person, group of persons or government may initiate force, or fraud against any individual’s self or property. Force may be morally used only in self-defence against those who violate the first statement. Yup. By my self.

Sign up Now!

Receive a Free Project Censored "Top 25 Censored Stories" Book For Being a Member

Become a $5 monthly subscriber to Project Censored and as long as you are a member, every year we will send you the newest Project Censored Top 25 Most Censored Stories of the Year book. You can choose paperback or e-book, you can cancel your monthly support at any time, and your support is tax deductible.